How to set up a home altar

A home altar is not a shrine you visit; it is a surface you pass every day. Everything below is chosen so that daily use stays possible on a normal morning.

Where to place it

The north-east corner is traditional — the ishaan direction. Where the room does not allow it, east-facing is the next choice, so that you face east while seated.

Two constraints matter more than direction:

• Not against a bathroom wall, and not under a staircase.
• Above waist height, below eye level when seated. High enough not to be stepped past, low enough to reach the lamp without standing.

What it needs

1. A lamp. One brass diya, ghee, and cotton wicks. This is the non-negotiable item.
2. A water vessel. Small copper or brass, refilled each morning.
3. A bell. Rung at the start and at aarti.
4. A thali for kumkum, haldi, akshata, and a spoon.
5. A flower plate. Fresh, never yesterday's.
6. The murti or image, at the centre and slightly raised.

Nothing else is required. An altar that needs fifteen minutes of arranging is an altar that gets skipped.

The daily order

Light the lamp, ring the bell, offer water, offer flowers, apply kumkum, then the namaskaram. Four minutes, unhurried.

On days when there is no time at all: light the lamp. That alone keeps the practice unbroken.

Keeping it

Wipe the surface each morning before lighting. Brass darkens — clean it weekly with tamarind or lemon and salt, never with a scouring pad. Replace wicks when they stop drawing ghee cleanly, which is roughly every two weeks in daily use.